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By Tom Shiel Journalistic Awards, worth £2,500, in memory of the late John Healy were announced on Monday at a function in the writer's hometown, Charlestown. The NCF John Healy Awards have been created by North Connacht Farmers Co-0p in order to encourage a focus on the economic and social development of the province of Connacht. The Award will be open to journalists in the print and broadcast media and two awards will be made each year. There will be an overall award which will include a £1,500 prize and this will be open to journalists on a national basis. A second Award of £1,000 will be confined to journalists working in Connacht who will also qualify for the overall award. A specially commissioned perpetual trophy, designed and manufactured in the west, will also be presented to the overall award winner. Members of John Healy's family, including his widow, Evelyn were present at the Riverside Restaurant when details of the prize scheme were announced. Evelyn welcomed the Awards and said her late husband loved Charlestown and the people of the west and she was sorry he did not live long enough to see all the changes for the better in the region. Minister of State, Noel Treacy described John Healy as a powerful man, a champion of rural Ireland, whose writing truly showed that the pen was mightier than the sword.
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